Emergency department physicians are hard at work cooking up work-arounds for shortages of such essentials as IV solution and at least one life-saving drug because suppliers can’t meet demand.

Carol A. Cunningham, M.D.,   state medical director for the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s division of emergency medical services and an emergency physician at Akron General Medical Center, told Health Leaders Media that a saline-solution shortage left her feeling “like we were practicing medicine in a Third World country.”